41. Meeting with Weymouth, Again
Dan’s heart beat rapidly as he, Paul and Claudia waited for the Rayburn elevator. Too hot to talk, the three waited silently, each lost in private thoughts. By 9 o’clock the day promised to be a scorcher. The heat, humidity and anxiety had already created large sweat stains under his arms. He made a mental note to keep his jacket on during the meeting. He ran through his argument mentally for what must have been the millionth time. To prepare for the meeting, he had spent all day Sunday reading the entire files from Emad and Claudia’s cases.
The congressman was waiting for them with the door to his personal office open, the smell of power emanated from it.
“Hello, Dan,” he said, getting up from his desk and walking to the front of it to greet them. Instead of sitting behind his ominous desk as he had at prior meetings, he sat on an easy chair and directed the three of them to sit on the leather couch.
Dan systematically laid out Emad’s case, arguing all the ways that the prosecution was overreaching, while a very young-looking woman frantically took notes. Weymouth interrupted with questions, which Dan or Paul answered deftly. Then they laid out the case against Claudia, detailing her acts of mailing packages for her client and making the phone call to Saudi Arabia.
Claudia sat quietly on the couch, sipping a glass of water. She excused herself to go to the restroom and when she returned the congressman said to her, “I’m sorry we’ve been doing all the talking. I want to hear what you have to say. What do you think of the idea of holding an oversight hearing?”
“Honestly, the idea of it makes me tired.” She sighed deeply, looking like she might cry. “I don’t want my life to be the center of attention.” She paused again. “But I don’t want to agree to their deal just to make my life easier and to make this case go away.” Dan looked at her approvingly. “I do believe the U.S. Attorneys are abusing their power. If you think there are grounds for oversight, then you should do it. I’ll cooperate with the investigation.”
Dan and Weymouth both nodded. She continued, “The most important case to investigate is Emad’s. He’s been in prison for four months. His wife and child are frantic with worry. At least I’m out on bond.”
“I’m very disturbed by this information,” Weymouth said, pulling on his chin, a nervous habit that Dan found endearing. “I thought the charges against him seemed trumped up, but this…” His voice trailed off. “I like your attitude. You’re not in this to be a media star. You’ll make a good witness.”
“There’s one problem,” Claudia said. She patted her belly. “You must have heard I’m a pregnant lesbian terrorist? Don’t you think this will detract from Emad’s case?”
“It’s not relevant,” Weymouth said sternly. “I’ll not allow any discussion of it while I’m running the hearing. Although frankly, whether you’re a lesbian or not, people feel sympathetic toward pregnant women.”
Weymouth stood up abruptly, “I’m sorry, but I have to run to another meeting. I’ll get back to you soon,” he said to Dan. “Thank you for coming in.”
“Thank you,” the three echoed together.
They walked out of the office not saying anything. Once the gold ornate elevator doors closed behind them Dan made a fist and brought his arm down, “Yes!” he shouted. “That was great!”
They high-fived each other and Claudia looked on in amusement. “You were great,” Dan said, taking her hand. “So poised. The perfect Southern woman.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Claudia said. “I just told the truth.”
Paul shook his head, “Dan’s right, you were perfect. You clearly didn’t have an ax to grind. You didn’t want to make this a political issue. You just wanted to do the right thing.”
Paul laughed, “Who would have thought? A Republican from Mississippi holding an oversight hearing on the U.S. Attorney. Maybe there is hope for this country yet.”
“There’s queers everywhere,” Dan laughed.
“I think he has a crush on you,” Claudia said, punching Dan in the arm.
“He’s hot alright,” Dan said. “But I’m in love. Plus, he’s a little old for me. And I don’t do married men.”
* * *
When the congressman called Dan the following Tuesday to inform him that he had already contacted the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Dan wondered if maybe Claudia’s theory about Weymouth’s crush was correct.
“They want me to review some documents before deciding to hold the hearings. They said the documents would allay my concerns and explain why they are pursuing the case.”
“Yea, right,” Dan said sarcastically, and then wished he hadn’t said that. He tried a more formal approach, “It makes sense to wait until you see what they have.” God I want to see those documents, Dan thought. But he didn’t say anything else.
“I told them they had 72 hours to have the documents on my desk,” Weymouth said. “I should be able to make a decision by next week.”
Dan immediately called Paul with the news. Paul said he would call his contact at the Justice Department to see how they were reacting to Weymouth’s threat of an oversight hearing. He called Dan back right away with the surprising news that his friend didn’t know about Weymouth’s interest in the case, suggesting that the higher ups were trying to keep Weymouth’s interest in the case secret.
How was he going to wait a whole week for Weymouth to make up his mind? He felt antsy. None of his issues were moving. Nothing much was happening at all in Congress, as most members hadn’t yet returned to Washington from the Memorial Day recess. There were no interesting hearings scheduled, no demonstrations scheduled, no meetings to attend. Sure there was work he could do. There was always work to do, but like most lobbyists, he was an adrenaline junkie and it was hard for him to get anything done unless he had a huge deadline looming.
He thought about the meeting with Weymouth. Weymouth’s attention and concern dazzled Dan. Whenever he thought of all that Weymouth had done for him — or rather for the issues Dan cared about — he felt elated. He had arrived. No one could doubt his credentials as a true Washington power broker. He had the ear of the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He was hot stuff. His mind wandered to thoughts of Weymouth without his clothes on. This would not do. No good could come out of such a liaison. He called Dave and made a date for later that night, vowing to remain faithful to his boyfriend.